Robofest Mentoring and Coaching Programs to Maximize Pedagogical Values
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We understand that each team needs
good technical mentors and coaches. Since Robofest has started in historically
industrialized area, Metro Detroit, we found there were many parents who are
professional engineers. They were capable of teaching young students and were
enjoying doing that. However, we also found many teams and schools were in
need of technical support and mentoring. In order to support Robotics teams and
schools that support robotics programs, Lawrence Tech Robofest has committed to
provide the following mentoring and coaching programs.
Free Hands-on workshops
Almost every Saturday in
January-Feburuary,
Lawrence Tech has provided free hands-on technical workshops. We have taught
Handy Board, Lego RCX, IntelliBrainBot, NXTG, RoboLab, NQC, NXC, LeJos Java, RobotC for free to the public. We estimate that
over 1,500 students attended the free workshops since 2000. It was interesting
to see that many parents were also learning robotics. We run summer robotics
camps as well. Since 2004, some of the workshops were webcast
and videoconference to reach people who could not come to the Lawrence Tech
campus. Webcast versions of the workshops can be
accessed as streaming videos at http://www.robofest.net/resources.htm.
Workshops for Teachers
We have provided hands-on robotics
workshops for area teachers since 2000. The classes were supported by the
Formal Robotics Classes for Teachers
On-site After School Programs for Underprivileged Schools in
With the support from CIS (Community
in Schools), we provided an on-site after school robotics program at
Parent Based Mentoring
We do encourage each team to find technical mentors. We observed parents were the most important resource for the success of teams. Because of the unveiled missions, they must really try hard to teach concepts to students, not doing the job by themselves for students. They must also teach how to adapt/adjust their robots because of unknown and dynamic components of Robofest. In order to promote and encourage team mentoring, Robofest awards each team coach a certificate.
High Tech Online Resources
Robofest maintains a web page with
online resources related to robotics education at http://www.robofest.net/resources.htm.
We will continue to provide more Webinars and streaming videos from the technical workshops that we
offer. The entire formal curriculum will be also provided for free for Robofest
teams online. We plan to produce various formats of the online/CD RoboMath curriculum.
Coaching
Robofest team coaches are the
essential part of Robofest. All coaches are registered on the Robofest
management system. Coaches provide logistics to teams. Coaches schedule
meetings and find mentors and volunteers. Coaches communicate directly to
Robofest administrators through various ways such as emails, fax,
teleconferencing, Webinars, and meetings on Lawrence Tech campus. Since coaching
a robotics team requires multi aspects of management and technological skills,
we try to provide the necessary tools, skills, information and on-site tech
support (some cases) for them. We recognize their effort by proving
certificates as well as coach awards.
Evaluation and Assessment
Evaluation and assessment can be
done using systems developed for Robofest. One is the web based online
survey system in which Robofest participants can answer survey questions and
make comments anonymously. The other tool is the statistical report subsystem
in the Robofest management system with all the Robofest data.
9-16-10